Jeffrey Winter Fine Arts
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Los Angeles, CA 90010
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Lucien Roudier Eller
1894-1940
Lucien Roudier was born on January 2, 1894 in Marseilles; he worked under the name Eller.
Eller lived most of his life in Marseilles, and many of his works depict aspects of this large Mediterranean port city. Nightlife, street life, the elegant nightclubs, sailor bars, prostitutes, and Gypsy street musicians were among his favorite subjects.
Eller was a laureate of l’École des Beaux-Arts de Marseilles, and a member of Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.
His style and technique was purely modern in the tradition of Von Dongen and Rouault. His imagery is powerful, his expressive style capturing the romantic and the desperate. His first paintings appeared around 1914. When he came to Paris after World War I he witnessed the Jazz bars with the black musicians, circuses, and nightclubs, and these became the direction of his artistic adventure.
Eller exhibited at Galerie Devambez in Paris, the Salons des Indépendants, and at the Salon des Humoristes.
Perhaps because he died at such a young age, possibly during World War II, his work fell into obscurity, however in 1956 a collection of more than 70 paintings, gouaches and watercolors were sold at auction in Nice. Paul Reboux wrote the preface of the sale. Since then, sophisticated collectors and dealers have been aware of his work.
Lucien Roudier Eller
Images and Biography
